What should drive the Church if it claims the historical marks of the Church and the visible marks of being revealing, resolute, ready, responsive, resilient, reframed, repentant, repetitive, remembrant, receptive, refined, and reverent?
We should see a Church that is conversional and missional: a Church that is people coming to Christ and living the Great Commandment, the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 25, and the Great Commission. For this to happen, there must be unity, in the body of Christ, characterized as faithful doctrine and practice.
- If both doctrine and practice are constant, the result is dead orthodoxy.
- If both doctrine and practice are constantly changing, the result is living heresy.
- But, if doctrine is constant and practice is always changing, the result is living orthodoxy.
The Holy Spirit works with power in our lives.
- Scripture and history have repeatedly proven that the preaching and teaching of Scripture which engages Jesus and justice is transformative.
- Scripture and history have repeatedly proven that the right administration of the sacraments demonstrates the missional nature of the Church.
- Scripture and history have repeatedly proven that the practice of Church discipline protects the Church from drifting, as its members are reminded of the deadly reality of sin, convicted by the Spirit of their sin, and run to the cross where Jesus Christ accomplished the forgiveness of sins through his substitutionary death and bodily resurrection.
As followers of Jesus, we are marked to tell and live the Truth. We are marked to make a difference. Society can be transformed one individual at a time.
On the journey of Christian discipleship and spiritual formation with you, I remain faithfully yours,
Steve
The Rev. Dr. Steven M. Marsh
Interim Pastor
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